Review: Revealed to Him by Jen Frederick

Reviewed by Shelly

I had a few firsts here – first time reading this author; first time reading about an agoraphobic; first time reading about an amputee with this level of imagery. I’m a very happy reader after Jen Frederick’s story. This is the 3rd book in this series and I have no clue what the previous 2 were like, but I can tell you I don’t really care, because I didn’t miss a thing reading this story. I’m not going to say that this was a perfect story, but it was darn good.

Jake Tanner’s a double amputee. During one of his tours overseas, the former Ranger’s hand and lower leg were blown off by an IED. After he came back to the states and got over his mad, he used some of his inheritance to open up his private investigator business. By the time I met Jake, it’s 5 years after his amputation and he’s doing fine. There’s nothing about him to either feel sorry for, nor does he feel sorry for himself. It doesn’t hurt his recovery that he’s independently wealthy and doesn’t have to depend on either the government or his family financially. I don’t hold that against Jake either, because he never, not even once, flaunts his wealth.

Natalie Beck – what a hot mess she is. But it does count that she knows she’s a hot mess and she’s really trying to not be one. Her current life as a writer is a secluded lifestyle, but Natalie’s got other issues and her biggest one is that she’s absolutely terrified of everyone other than the 5 people she knows and trust. Can you imagine living that a life where you’re so self-imprisoned? I know I can’t, but then again, I’ve never been the victim of the vitriol that came her way.

One of the sweet spots of any good story is plausibility. Can the author convince me that – yeah, could this happen? This is that kind of story. I’m not talking about the gushy word speak between Jake and Natalie; I’m talking about the premise that what happens in this story happens to people all the time. It’s the plausibility in this story that makes this good. There are some very mean and nasty people in this world. Some of them live in their mothers’ basements and hide behind the anonymity of a computer while others live in beautiful mansions and falsely put on their Superman cape under the pretense of helping.

I really liked Natalie. Normally I’m a 3rd person POV kinda reader, but Frederick’s choice of 1st person POV worked really well for me. Seeing in Natalie’s neuroses and fears kept me on my toes and made this a very quick read. It’s hard to say that I had fun with this story, but I did. The romance was good, the sex was phenomenal. Interesting how Jake does ‘the sex’ with a prosthetic leg (I would have loved to be in his head when he’s running with his blade though – that completely fascinates me). There’s nothing here that’s fast or unsatisfying. The suspense to find the culprit was quite well paced – I didn’t guess right, so I was absolutely pleased there.

Before I go, I just want to tell you about Jake. Jake’s a nice guy. His younger sister who’s attending college lives with him, if that doesn’t give you have warm gooey feelings of affection for our hero, this might – he’s still slightly scared of his mother’s wrath when he doesn’t do what she says. Gotta love it!